Always, a big thanks to Larry.

Another short story to add to those of the Catalina Mokes...

Mid-70s I was in California and had just enough time to visit the Island. Purpose. Find out about the Mokes, of course.

I went to the rental place and tried to start a conversation with the owner. No go. Rent a Moke to drive around only 2 - 3 miles of public road, or don't bother me. I left the shop but went around the back and managed to spend some time with the mechanic who tried to keep the Mokes running. I got the impression that most, if not all of the Mokes then, were English Mokes. I remember the mechanic complaining about all the time he spent rebuilding gearboxes. Renters usually were not very good with non-automatics, and the no-synchro 1st gears especially took a beating. He said he eventually started blocking off first gear all together.

And, no. They were not interested in selling one.

I will always remember what Dennis Simanitis wrote in that R&T article on his journey from New Jersey to California, by Moke, "Driving across the vast expanse of Delaware I realized I'd made a terrible mistake."





Norm

very beautiful photo :)

Hey Larry, While you are looking thru the registrations on the Mokes, can you see if you can find the one for the purple one that I got from you?  When Mike and I were up there you said you would go thru your paperwork when you had a chance and get it to me.  Anyway, Thanks for everything and good luck with your neighbors and code enforcement.  What a shame!  The way you're tucked away back there, who is all your cars hurting?  Jackasses...

I second that Al. As I mentioned in this post I am forever grateful to all those who found it in their hearts to help me. To some I am an old friend, to some I am a perfect stranger, but there is no one for whom the world wasn't changed for the worse that day. Almost every country lost someone. The US and the UK lost the most lives, but we all lost some of our freedom. Thanks Larry

And a special thanks to my 4 mini buddies who stepped up with me to help Larry out in his time of need-

BIG AL

Holy Moke!

 

Mitch

Sitting around on the "Mend" again from yet another of my 9/11 health issues I saw this post and will interject. I see MEB and Big Al have gotten most of the facts sorted out, But now the story must close as they need to move once again or be sold off to new homes: OK so I saw this post and will correct the few mistakes. I alone brought the Mokes back from Catalina. Tom purchased some of the worst ones off of me once they hit the mainland in Longbeach Ca., but had nothing to do with their 3 day round the clock rescue from Catalina. The Moke Dennis Simanitis bought from me was not one of the Catalina fleet. It was a rust free Moke which I purchased in NJ restored and sold to him. He and I (part way as I left in Roanoke Va) drove cross country in 1990. I had the cold part of the trip as it was November when he started from NJ. See Nov 1991 R&T article sea to shining sea. I sold or restored about 20 of the Mokes. I know where almost all of them went. The ones pictured here on the trailer were Toms. Sold a few odd ones in Ca. the rest came back to NJ via two rail cars thanks to Southern Pacific's screw up. I have approximately 16 left some form Catalina some form other sources. All will be either moved or sold off by April this year as my kind neighbors who were aware of my on going 9/11 health issues have taken it upon them selves to make my life even more miserable by reporting them to the local code enforcement as abandoned cars. So they have to leave by April. Any way that is some of the update on the Catalina Mokes. I will look thru the registrations I have here as I should still have the registrations for those plate numbers listed here. If someone want to send me the plate numbers you are looking for I might still have the registrations that match. I sat down and started the long story of this rescue years ago, but never quite finished it and it is temporarily trapped inside my old broken computer. As Al stated it is an amazing story. 3 days of pre-cellphone round the clock major issues, moving of 58 partially running and disassembled Mokes plus parts from 4 different locations all over Catalina to the port, by barge to Long Beach, by truck to MN. and train to NJ and their final resting spots. I guess it was the same problem solving, logistical nightmare loving, no common sense, that got me to the WTC on 9/11 and my problems I'm having now. If anyone has an interest let me know I had also posted about needing help and offering the mini prints to help me out if someone would be kind enough to find it and bump it for me as I have more of them available and could use the funds to pay my ongoing bills that our government has seen fit to ignore. Currently needing a few medications paid for that the government has decided not to fund anymore or as they put it "We are just waiting on the approval, of the approval, of the approvals, hang in there". That was over two weeks ago. A few of you have found it in your heart to help a perfect stranger or Mini friend, "meaning me" like I did on that day when "all" of our lives changed for the worse. For that I will be forever grateful. Until the government ever gets their head out of their arse I still need to rely on the kindness of others and selling off my possessions. So if you too can find it in your heart to help a stranger please look at my other post, get a beautiful Tony Smith print, or restore a Moke, I will be posting a few other projects that will never get finished when the weather breaks. One is an almost finished Mini Cabriolet. Thanks Larry

Cool picture and history.  I remember hearing about the Mokes being for sale back then but I had my hands full with another restoration.  Too bad for me. 

This one is an Ex-Catalina Moke - brought from Tom back in 1995.

Martin.

Yet another additiion to my "Good Reasons To Own a Time Machine" list...

Those photos were taken in 1990.

I got my Moke from Tom Schram in October 1990.

Did not start the restoration until 10 years later and completed it in September 2002.

//www.minimania.com/images/articles/Lum001/index.htm

When the UK Moke club was assisting Cagiva with the great Moke panel sell off which was about 7 years ago or so, I got enough of everything to fully restore another Moke.  Full floor, panier panels, toe board a couple of front ends, all fenders. Did not have a candidate but found one.  5 years ago picked up another one from a local guy that got one of the Mokes from Tom but decided it was too much of an undertaking to restore. Both are English Mokes, a 68 and a 67.

There were some Aussie Mokes in the lot, Tom had two running ones as I recall.  I think he has some left but do not know what condition they are.

Catalina Moke from Big Al

Built 2/66- originally Old English White- sold to a Dealership in Texas,

I pretty much restored the vehicle ground up with a rebuilt 998. I plan on putting in a 1275 with an engine I recently bought from Spank.  It's a trip when you drive a Moke on L.A. freeway. After sandblasting it was powder coated OG green by a buddy who manages the shop , will paint at a later date, when cash flow returns.

George

aka Cecat

I have been told that my 67 Moke came from that "pile". Any way I could verify that?

Clancy

Lawrence, KS

The short story.

The Mokes had been on Catalina Island since 1966-67, where they were used as rentals. Catalina Island had/has a limit to the number of vehicles allowed on the island. For a new car to get on the island one had to leave. By the early 1990s the owner of the Mokes realized that he had a goldmine not in the Mokes, but in their permits to be on the island so he decided to sell the Mokes. He ran an ad in Hemmings offering them for sale, the catch was that the Mokes had to leave Catalina and it had to be an all-or-nothing deal. Larry bought the cars then ran another ad advertising individual Mokes for sale to be picked up in Long Beach. By the time the cars made it back to the mainland he had sold a few cars to individuals who picked up their cars in Long Beach. The rest were split with Tom, and Larry moved his batch back to NJ by rail.

meb

On reflecton , possibly the mokes were split up in two parcels when they landed on the mainland at California, with Toms' lot going to MN by truck and Larrys' going to N J by rail-

If you notice just over the shoulder of the lady who previously owned my moke, there is a sticker/decal, indicating " Catalina Island Patrol"

I first saw this moke about 10 years ago at a mini jamboree in Windsor and Marg was quite a sight , driving it with her bicycle helmut on-

BIG AL

Here is a pic of a woman in Windsor Ontario who had one of the "Catalina Island Mokes" , she owned it for 9 years but a severe case of arthrytis made her sell it-

I believe it came from Larry Hollaway (American Hero) in N J- I did some work on it and sold it to Cecat in California and l believe he painted it cammo-

Larry tells the story of finding these mokes on Catalina lsland (55 l believe) and then getting them to the mainland  and then shipping them to the east coast- I, for some reason thought that they came cross country by train-

Toms' mokes ended up in a collapsing barn in MN and l think they rotted away-

At the time, Mokes were the only vehicle allowed on the Island- Larry told me, he was concerned about paying the toll to get them off the Island, but was informed it was free as when they went out there the return fare was paid at the time-

If you get a chance to talk to Larry, get him to tell you the whole story, it is facinating !!!

 

BIG AL

Look at all those Moke seats :(

What a cool pic!

Not sad at all.

The Catalina Mokes ended up with Tom Schram(?Sp) in Minnesota and Larry Hollaway in NJ and most of them were brought back to life. I think Larry is down to about 10-13 of them. Over the years a lot of Moke enthusiasts have restored these Catalina Mokes one at a time. Some time in the 1990s Dennis Simmanitis drove one of the restored Mokes from Maryland to California along US-50. It was covered in a story in Road&Track. My daughter and I are currently restoring one of them.

 

meb